Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Pentagon’s long-awaited survey of troops regarding lifting the "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy is finally public and, just as anticipated from leaks about it for weeks -- and what we've known for years -- it concludes there is little risk to the military in allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. Not only do the majority of troops not have a problem with gays serving openly, but a whopping 69% say they have already been serving with known gays and lesbians, and of those, 92% say there was no problem with morale and unit cohesion. Over 80% of Marine combat unites said they no problem having served with gays. All the latest polls show the American people support repeal.

The military was successfully integrated decades ago with much less support from the public and the troops for allowing black and white soldiers to serve together. The only people holding up justice now are hardliners in the Pentagon and troglodyte Republican senators pandering to religious zealots. Yes, we're talking about John McCain. It's going to be all about getting those few supposed moderate Republicans to buck their party. Lady Gaga has pulled through again, making a video and enlisting her fans in the cause. We'll be going through all the details today Time for everyone to call their senators, again! 202 224 3121. (UPDATE: Read the entire Pentagon DADT report)

We'll continue the discussion and take calls on all the reactions to the Wikileaks cablegate controversy, including the next target, big banks.

Guest / 3:30pm EST - Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center joins us this afternoon to talk about the recent addition of the Family Research Council and American Family Association, along with several others, to their list of anti-gay hate groups. Also, SPLC has released a report that shows that "homosexuals are far more likely to be victims of a violent hate crime than any other minority group in the United States." We'll discuss these issues with him today.

We'll play you the latest clips in right-wing crazy world: A Virgina legislator says the TSA patdowns are part of the homosexual agenda to feel up straight men! And the God Squad has now come out against environmentalism, claiming environmentalists want to put the word under their "destructive control" because... well, we're not sure why God wouldn't want people to save the planet, but we'll go through it all!

Guest / 4:30pm EST - Dr. Stephen Boswell, president and CEO of Fenway Health, joins us this afternoon to talk about a new study that, according to the New York Times, show, "Healthy gay men who took an anti-AIDS pill every day were well protected against contracting HIV."

Should we be celebrating the Civil War and the secession -- without the slavery, of course? I think a lot of you will want to jump into the discussion on this one.

Listen to The Michelangelo Signorile Show weekdays live from 2-6 pm ET on Sirius XM's OutQ: Sirius 109, XM 98 and on the Sirius XM iPhone app. Not a subscriber? Not a problem! Listen online any time with a free seven-day pass or, if you have an iPhone or Blackberry, go to the app store and download Sirius XM for free, for a 7-day trial, and listen on your phone.

The Michelangelo Signorile Show airs across the U.S. and Canada weekdays from 3-6 p.m. EST on SiriusXM Progress 127, and on the iPhone via the Sirius XM iPhone app. Listen online at any time by getting a free three-day pass and tuning to Progress 127. Learn more about my show and Progress. For interview ideas and show topics, please e-mail producer Sean Bertollo.

If you're a regular listener to the show, please take our listener survey and let us learn more about you so we can bring you more of what you like about the show.